Its time for a fresh start. Althought its difficult with his personal relationship (their wifes are sisters) its time for Podge to sack Ronan Flood his caddy. Their big boys and it should happen sooner rather than later. Luke Donald sacked his brother a while ago and has just gone from strenght to strength. I suspect Tiger may need to do it too....

Totally agree. Even during Harrington's successes over the past few years, there was always a considerable amount of dubious shot-making and tactics. For the reasons you've outlined, I'm just not sure that Flood has the authority to stand up to Pádraig - it's as if he feels that PH has done him an enormous favour, so he shouldn't ask too many questions.

The most significant error which I feel that Flood has made, however, has been his failure to reign in Harrington's perpetual tinkering with his swing. I appreciate that this is primarily the role of Bob Torrance as coach, and perhaps its time for a change in this department too. In my view, however, Ronan has failed in his off-course role in allowing Harrington to butcher the swing with which he won 3 majors in 13 months.

He was employed to be a yes man, simple as. I questioned his appointment when it was made. Dave McCneilly was a very good Caddy.It was Harringtons accountant side coming through, job for the in-laws. Consolidate earnings. A major no no(no pun intended).

Harrington is the archetypal mechanical golfer and is thus inclined to tinker with his swing. He sees it as a series of movements as opposed to a fluid action.

His coach Bob Torrance is renowned for coaching his players to hit a 'high draw' consistently. This all fine and dandy when the player is confident, playing US style(stadium courses) and has his ball under control but when he loses confidence then it goes horribly wrong resulting in low to mid hooks. Watch practically every single bad shot harrington has hit in the last few years under pressure and its an awful hook to the left.

Whilst I agree with a Major winner reconstructing his swing in his early to mid 20s a la Faldo & Woods, doing it in your late 30s is bordering on lunacy. He has effectively thrown away 2 years of his career when he could have sewn up another couple of Majors whilst Woods & Mickelson floundered.

The blame for this does not lie with his Caddy & Management Co but squarely at the feet of Harrington and to a lesser extent Bob Torrance who should have reigned him in. Although he won't admit it, his confidence is on the floor now and has been for some time. Its eroding his game and I doubt he'll ever get it back. In his prime he still couldnt put 4 great rounds together so I fail to see how he'll do it now. Doubles & Triples are a sure sign of fading powers and he's throwing a fair few of them around lately.

Faldo only won his majors after he redid his swing. Woods is the only one I can think of who made a significant and successful change after winning a major and as SB notes, he was still very young at that stage. Wouldn't put it past PH to pull out another major as Faldo did in 1996 but I think his glory days are behind him.

Grumpy Old Man wrote:Faldo only won his majors after he redid his swing. Woods is the only one I can think of who made a significant and successful change after winning a major and as SB notes, he was still very young at that stage. Wouldn't put it past PH to pull out another major as Faldo did in 1996 but I think his glory days are behind him.

Yep, i stand corrected Grumpy.

I have '87 & '92 etched in my mind. The former was his first Major under Leadbetter but the latter i still maintain(Won the Open and runner up in the PGA) was due to his swing change which he attributed to his widening girth and visits to the gym(he trained his wrists and forearms) in order to keep up with the big hitters of the day.

"Althought its difficult with his personal relationship (their wifes are sisters) its time for Podge to sack Ronan Flood his caddy"Kudos to Harringtons wife. Spy in the cab job, smart move in light of the great Tiger!

Sauvignon Blank wrote:Decent performance at Doral. First time in a while he has played 4 good rounds in a row.

Fourth round wasn't great though. I sat down with high hopes for him on Sunday evening and was delighted with his eagle on the first. Then he gets up and down from a green side bunker on the second and has a triple bogey on the third! Finishes the round one over par.

He got himself into position and once again blew up with a large number on the card, something he has been doing since the PGA in 2009 (IIRC.) I wonder how much confidence he has in his swing at the moment.

Sauvignon Blank wrote:Decent performance at Doral. First time in a while he has played 4 good rounds in a row.

Fourth round wasn't great though. I sat down with high hopes for him on Sunday evening and was delighted with his eagle on the first. Then he gets up and down from a green side bunker on the second and has a triple bogey on the third! Finishes the round one over par.

He got himself into position and once again blew up with a large number on the card, something he has been doing since the PGA in 2009 (IIRC.) I wonder how much confidence he has in his swing at the moment.

His confidence was on the floor. This will take a time to get back fully (if indeed he ever gets it back). He shot +2 yesterday and will be lucky to make the cut the way things are going now. His driving stats were 50% and GIR not much better. Awful stuff.If I was a betting Man i'd wager him to miss the cut at Augusta in a couple of weeks even with the lack of rough and wide fairways.Worrying times for PH.

Sauvignon Blank wrote:Decent performance at Doral. First time in a while he has played 4 good rounds in a row.

Fourth round wasn't great though. I sat down with high hopes for him on Sunday evening and was delighted with his eagle on the first. Then he gets up and down from a green side bunker on the second and has a triple bogey on the third! Finishes the round one over par.

He got himself into position and once again blew up with a large number on the card, something he has been doing since the PGA in 2009 (IIRC.) I wonder how much confidence he has in his swing at the moment.

His confidence was on the floor. This will take a time to get back fully (if indeed he ever gets it back). He shot +2 yesterday and will be lucky to make the cut the way things are going now. His driving stats were 50% and GIR not much better. Awful stuff.If I was a betting Man i'd wager him to miss the cut at Augusta in a couple of weeks even with the lack of rough and wide fairways.

I remarked previously about the fact Bob Torrance's pupils all hit 'high draws', that they are coached to hit this shot.He found the left rough off practically every tee ffs You cant expect to compete on Tour from the rough.

Two and 3/4 very good rounds from PH at the Houston Open. His old failings come back to haunt him on the final three holes. He slices a 5 Iron 30/40 yards right for a bogey on 16, then puts himself in trouble down the left of the final 2 holes. He was cruising up to this point and challenging/maintaining the lead all day.Whilst it could be argued his form has improved on the eve of the Masters it could also be argued his erratic form is still very much evident. His swing IMHO is still too fast and still looks like he could put the ball anywhere off the tee(except the fairway).He may make the cut at Augusta and he may even get onto the leaderboard but I can't see him contending

All things considered PH I suspect will be happy with his weeks work in Houston. Still liable to throw the odd double/triple on his card.On to Augusta now and hopefully the Europeans will stack the leaderboard come Sunday.

Sauvignon Blank wrote:All things considered PH I suspect will be happy with his weeks work in Houston. Still liable to throw the odd double/triple on his card.On to Augusta now and hopefully the Europeans will stack the leaderboard come Sunday.

He seems to follow every birdie with a bogey at the moment. Very frustrating.

Mackman15 wrote:Hate saying it but our boy Harrington is struggling already at +4.On a brighter note WeeMac is blazing a trail out front at -5.

Shocking stuff really from PH. He needs to take a long hard look at himself, admit he fecked up by deconstructing his swing and move on. All 6 amateurs shot between level and +4. All the big guns well placed on what were perfect conditions at Augusta.I feared last week he'd miss the cut and it will take a low to mid 60s to make it now. Which aint going to happen.